A Comparison of Whitman’s Song of Myself with Ginsberg’s Howl

American poetry, unlike other nations’ poetry, is still in the nascent stage because of the absence of a history in comparison to other nations’ poetry humming with matured voices. Nevertheless, in the past century, American poetry has received the recognition it deserves from the creative poetic compositions of Walt Whitman, who has been called â€Å"the father of American poetry.† His dynamic style and uncommon content is well exhibited in his famous poem â€Å"Song of Myself,† giving a direction to the American writers of posterity. In addition, his distinct use of the line and breath has had a huge impression on the compositions of a number of poets, especially on the works of the present-day poet Allen Ginsberg, whose debatable poem â€Å"Howl†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Such formations of the words by both the poets add to the feeling of flexibility and freedom from the limitations of time and space in their poems. This is the leading trai t and similarity of the respective ‘catalogues’ of both â€Å"Song of Myself† and â€Å"Howl† (Moritz 6). The element of similarity is evident not only in the form but content and style as well (Monforton par. 2). Whitman’s speaker speaks in the voice of first person. Comparing Ginsberg with Whitman, he is possessed by Whitman who uses the personal pronoun ‘I’ more often, culminating in the hug between the body and soul, town and country, sexuality and spirituality, and science and mysticism – all-pervasive but Whitman’s ‘I’ is not completely identified in the absence of ‘you,’ who is not real; it is the imaginative audience of Whitman, which differentiates the poetry of Whitman, as he says, â€Å"You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,’ you shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself,† (Whitman 26). The self of Whitman is all-encompassing; it absorbs all activities rural or urban. There is a unity in all diverse ‘items’ of the self and in the self. Ginsberg uses the same device in â€Å"Howl† to pay his